Structural units for upholstery purposes



Sept. 27, 1960 D. MEYERHARDT STRUCTURAL UNITS FOR UPHOLSTERY PURPOSES IF/G.4

INVENTOR. DAGOBERT ME YERHARDT 2,954,074 Ice Patented SeP STRUCTURALUNITS FOR UPHOLSTERY PURPOSES Dagobert Meyerhardt, Opladener Str. 127,Solingen-Landwehr, Germany; Ruth Erika Gertraud Schaller, administratrixof said Dagobert Meyerhardt, deceased Filed Dec. 16, 1955, Ser. No.553,496

Claims priority, application Germany Dec. 21, 1954 3 Claims. (Cl.155-179) This invention relates to structural units for upholsterypurposes and to upholstered articles produced therefrom. in the presentspecification, the term upholstered article is used to designatecushions, mattresses, upholstered chairs, sofas, couches, divans,lounges, settees, love seats, hassocks, automobile seats, airplane seatsand the like.

Heretofore, it has been common practice to use metallic springs in themanufacture of upholstered articles. These springs are usually mountedin wooden or metallic frames and covered by a layer of stufiingi Becauseof upholstery units which make it possible to manufacture v 5 the rathercomplicated construction of the conventional upholstered articles in asimple and economical manner.

Further objects will appear hereinafter.

It has now been found that a plurality of comparti ments filled with airand formed by an elastic material, at least part of said elasticmaterial consisting of an elastic foam, constitutes a new upholsteryprinciple. Thus, the present invention provides structural units forupholstery which comprise at least two series of pieces of elasticmaterial, the pieces of each series being spaced from one another andangularly interlocked with the pieces of the other series so as to formthe partitions of a plurality of compartments, and at least one plate ofelastic material forming the bottom and the top of said compartments, atleast part of said elastic material consisting of an elastic foam.

'In a preferred embodiment of the invention, two series of spaced piecesof elastic foamed material are interlocked at right angles so as to formthe partitions of a plurality of adjoining cubic compartments, thebottom and the top of said cubic compartments being formed by at leastone plate of elastic foamed material.

The invention will be specifically described with reference to thedrawings, but it is understood that the invention is not limited by thephysical limitations of the upholstery units illustrated and is capableof being embodied in upholstery units of other modifications than thosechosen for the purpose of illustration.

'Figure 1 shows a preferred embodiment of an upholstery unit constructedin accordance with the present invention. This unit comprises theinterlocked pieces 1 of elastic foamed material forming the adjoiningcubic compartments 2, and the plates 3 and 5 of elastic foamed materialmeeting at the seam -4 and forming the bottom and the top of thecompartments 2.

Figure 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of an upholstery unit inaccordance with the invention, wherein the bottom and the top are formedby the plate 6.

foam and polyurethane foam.

Figure 3 is a cross sectional view of an upholstery unit suitable formaking round upholstered articles, numerals 7 and 8 designating theinner and outer covering plates, which are made from one piece ofmaterial each.

The interlocked partitions represented by numeral 1 in Figure 1 arepreferably of equal dimensions. When shaped as illustrated in Figure 4,they may easily be put together at right angles to form cubiccompartments. In order to obtain such partitions, a piece of elasticfoamed material is cut as shown by the zigzag line in Figure 5, wherebytwo identical parts without any leftovers are formed.

The top and bottom of the compartments may be made.

from one plate of elastic foamed material as illustrated in Figure 2.Alternatively, the top and the bottom of the compartments may be formedby two or more pieces. Where two pieces of covering plate meet, they maybe connected by gluing, sewing, welding, vulcanizing or in any othersuitable manner.

When pressure is applied to the upholstery units of the invention, as bythe weight of the users of an upholstered article made therefrom, theair contained in the compartments will at first be compressed and thengradually escape through the pores of the elastic foam. As a result theupholstered article will assume. its final form slowly asdistinguished'from all conventional upholstered articles which assumetheir final form rather quickly. It may, thus, be seen that in theupholstery units of the invention, the air contained in the compartmentsand the elasticity of the foamed building material coact to bring aboutan ideal springinessQ An upholstered article made from the upholsteryunits of the invention will have a high resilience in any state ofcompression. The use of upholstered articles made in accordance with theinven- :tion is, therefore, particularly pleasant.

The partitions and the covering iplates (bottom and top) of thecompartments can be made of any elastic foamed material, such as rubberfoam, polyvinylchlofride It is, of course, possible to combine differenttypes of foam in one upholstery unit. Thus, the partitions can be madeof rubber foam and the covering plate of polyurethane foam or viceversa. It is also possible to make only certain elements, as, forexample, the partitions of elastic foamed material and the remainingelements, as, for example, the bottom and the top of a differentmaterial.

The density of the elastic foamed material may range from about 25kg./rn. to about 50 kg./m. densities within the range of 35 kg./m. to 45kg./m. being preferred. Both foams with fine pores, having a diameter ofbetween 0.1 and 0.3 mm., and foams with wide pores,

having a diameter of between 0.6 and 0.9 mm., may beemployed in theconstruction of the upholstery units of the invention. Regardingelasticity foams should have a rebound within the range of about 20-35%.

In the manufacture of upholstered articles in accordance with theinvention, the new upholstery units are combined in any suitable manner.Depending upon the size of the article to be made, two or more units maybe arranged side by side and/or one above the other. Small upholsteredarticles, such as cushions, may be made of one upholstery unit havingthe required dimensions.

The upholstery units of the invention offer the advantage of greatlysimplifying the manufacture of upholstered articles. Since they consistof only two structural elements, i.e., partitions and covering plates, awork shop or factory engaged in the manufacture of the new upholsteredarticles need only a minimum of materials and tools. Another advantageresides in the fact that the upholstered articles made in accordancewith the invention do not contain metallic parts (spiral springs). Theyare therefore unusually light.

The following example is intended to be illustrative only. The inventionis by no means limited to it.

Example A foamed material is prepared from the following reactionmixture:

100 parts by weight of a polyester prepared by thermal condensation of15 mols of adipic acid, 16 mols of diethylene glycol and 1 mol oftrimethylol propane; OH number 60, acid number below 1,

33 parts by weight of toluylene diisocyanate,

9.5 parts by weight of the following mixture:

3 parts by weight of his-(diethylarninoethanol)-adipate,

1.5 parts by weight of a sulfonated ricinolic acid (water content 54%1.5 parts by weight of the sodium salt of a sulfonated castor oil (watercontent 54% 1 part by weight of water.

Stripes 4 cm. thick and 8 cm. broad are cut from that foamed blockmaterial. These stripes are then further out in zigzag according toFigure 5. By this procedure a plurality of identical pieces is obtainedwhich pieces can be put to gether to form an upholstery of any desireddimension.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. An upholstery unit having, in combination, walls which completelyenclose a cavitated interior and interlocking partitioning membersdividing the said cavity into compartments having air pervious walls, atleast one of said partitioning members extending across the cavity inone direction and another partitioning member extending across thecavity in an opposite direction and crossing the first said member, eachof said members having a notch therein at the point of crossing, thecombined depths of the two notches being substantially equal to theheight of said member whereby the combined height of the partitions atthe point of crossing is substantially equal to the height of theremainder of the partitions, said walls and partitioning members beingformed from out resilient solidified foam thereby having a porousstructure throughout which permits passage of air therethrough.

2. An upholstery unit having, in combination, walls which completelyenclose a cavitated interior and interlocking partitioning membersdividing the said cavity into compartments having air pervious walls, atleast one of said partitioning members extending across the cavity inone direction and another partitioning member extending across thecavity in an opposite direction and crossing the first said member, eachof said members having a notch therein at the point of crossing, thecombined depths of the two notches being substantially equal to theheight of said member whereby the combined height of the partitions atthe point of crossing is substantially equal to the height of theremainder of the partitions, the resulting compartments formed by saidpartitions being substantially filled with air when the upholsterynnitis compressed, said walls and partitioning members being formed fromcutresilient solidified foam thereby having a porous structurethroughout and having a density of from about 25 kilograms per cubicmeter to about kilograms per cubic meter and having pores therein offrom about 0.1 millimeter to about 0.9 millimeter in cross section and arebound elasticity of from about 20% to about 35%.

3. A method for making upholstery unit comprising preparing a partitionby cutting a strip of a solidified foam material into pieces by formingalternate substantially equally dimensional and equally spaced notchesand intermediate protuberances in one piece while simultaneously formingspaced complementary notches and intermediate protuberances in the otherpiece, assembling the resulting pieces by laying one across the otherwith the notches in one meshing with the notches in the other, andthereafter enclosing the assembly in a solidified foam cover.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,061,569 Fischer Nov. 24, 1936 2,371,788 Weeber Mar. 20, 1945 2,511,620Clements June 13, 1950 2,617,751 Bickett Nov. 11, 1952 2,619,659Futterknecht Dec. 2, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS 434,550 Great Britain Sept. 4,1935 782,886 France Mar. 25, 1935

